1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to circuits for controlling gas discharge devices, especially multiple gas discharge display/memory devices which have an electrical memory and which are capable of producing a visual display or representation of data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, multiple gas discharge display and/or memory panels have been proposed in the form of a pair of dielectric charge storage members which are backed by electrodes, the electrodes being so formed and oriented with respect to an ionizable gaseous medium as to define a plurality of discrete gas discharge units or cells. The cells have been defined by a surrounding or confining physical structure such as the walls of apertures in a perforated glass plate sandwiched between glass surfaces and they have been defined in an open space between glass or other dielectric backed with conductive electrode surfaces by appropriate choices of the gaseous medium, its pressure and the electrode geometry. In either structure, charges (electrons and ions) produced upon ionization of the gas volume of a selected discharge cell, when proper alternating operating voltages are applied between the opposed electrodes, are collected upon the surface of the dielectric at specifically defined locations. These charges constitute an electrical field opposing the electrical field which created them so as to reduce the voltage and terminate the discharge for the remainder of the cycle portion during which the discharge producing polarity remains applied. These collected charges aid an applied voltage of the polarity opposite that which created them in the initiation of a discharge by imposing a total voltage across the gas sufficient to again initiate a discharge and a collection of charges. This repetitive and alternating charge collection and ionization discharge constitutes an electrical memory.
In the operation of the display/memory device, an alternating voltage is applied, typically, by applying a first periodic voltage wave form to one array and applying a cooperating second wave form, frequently identical to and shifted on the time axis with respect to the first wave form, to the opposed array to impose a voltage across the cells formed by the opposed arrays of electrodes which is the algebraic sum of the first and second wave forms. The cells have a voltage at which a discharge is initiated. That voltage can be derived from an externally applied voltage or a combination of wall charge potential and an externally applied voltage. Ordinarily, the entire cell array is excited by an alternating voltage which, by itself, is of insufficient magnitude to ignite gas discharges in any of the elements. When the walls are appropriately charged, as by means of a previous discharge, the voltage applied across the element will be augmented, and a new discharge will be ignited. Electrons and ions again flow to the dielectric walls extinguishing the discharge. However, on the following half cycle, their resultant wall charges again augment the applied external voltage and cause a discharge in the opposite direction. The sequence of electrical discharges is sustained by an alternating voltage signal that, by itself, could not initiate that sequence.
In addition to the sustaining voltage, there are manipulating voltages or addressing voltages imposed on the opposed electrodes of a selected cell or cells to alter the state of those cells selectively. One such voltage, termed a "writing voltage", transfers a cell or discharge site from the quiescent to the discharging state by virtue of a total applied voltage across the cell sufficient to make it probable that on subsequent sustaining voltage half cycles the cell will be in the "on state". A cell in the "on state" can be manipulated by an addressing voltage, termed an "erase voltage", which transfers it to the "off state" by imposing sufficient voltage to draw off the surface or wall charges on the cell walls and cause them to discharge without being collected on the opposite cell walls in an amount such that succeeding sustainer voltage transitions are not augmented sufficiently by wall charges to ignite discharges.
Typical prior art sustainer circuits are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,182 issued to E. F. Peters and entitled "Transistor Control Apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,777,183 issued to E. F. Peters and entitled "Transistor Control Apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,599 issued to E. F. Peters and entitled "Transistor Control Apparatus"; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,560 issued to E. F. Peters and entitled "Multivoltage Level Plasma Display Panel Sustainer Circuits".